Sen. Elizabeth Warren will have a plan for that. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke will have to make his case without jumping on a table. And Sen. Cory Booker will seek to reclaim his mantle as America’s favorite Rhodes Scholar-turned-mayor.
The three Democratic presidential candidates will face off in just a few hours — along with seven others — at the first 2020 primary debate as they seek to dethrone frontrunner Joe Biden, who will be on stage at a second debate the following night.
Warren, who is now polling just behind Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, will seek to capitalize on her recent momentum by highlighting her detailed proposals to raise taxes on people with more than $50 million in assets, pay off student loans and make college tuition-free, create government-funded child care centers, secure elections and fight the opioid epidemic, among other things.
But first she’ll have to deal with challenges from O’Rourke, who has bet his turnaround on a $5 trillion plan to fight climate change; as well as from Booker and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who have put forward more moderate proposals as they seek the centrist lane to the nomination currently dominated by Biden.
Read More: Winning the First Debate? Elizabeth Warren Has a Plan for That
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the first Democratic primary debate.
When is the first Democratic primary debate?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during the North American Building Trades Unions Conference at the Washington Hilton April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Zach Gibson—Getty Images
The first Democratic primary debate will be broadcast tonight on NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, from 9 to 11 p.m. Eastern. The second debate will air the following night.
How can I watch the debate?
Workers assemble the television set for the first Democratic presidential primary debates for the 2020 elections, which will take place in Miami, Florida on June 26, 2019
Drew Angerer—Getty Images
The debates will be available to watch on NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo at 9 p.m. on both nights and will be available to stream for free on NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, and the NBC News app, as well as all Telemundo digital platforms, marking the first time a Spanish-language channel will host a Democratic presidential debate.
What’s the best way to follow the debate on Twitter?
The Twitter application seen displayed on a Sony smartphone in Bangkok, Thailand on July 20, 2018.
Guillaume Payen/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A lot of debate viewers will be doing what is known as “second screen” — tweeting and retweeting as they watch the debate on TV or online. The hashtag for the debate is #DemDebate, so you can search for those tweets or add that to your own.
The campaign staffers for some of the candidates will also post links to their proposals and highlights of their performance on their own Twitter handles. Here’s a list of the handles of the candidates on stage tonight:
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren: @ewarren Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke: @BetoORourke New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker: @CoryBooker Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar: @amyklobuchar Washington Gov. Jay Inslee: @JayInslee Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro: @JuliánCastro Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: @TulsiGabbard New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: @BilldeBlasio Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan: @TimRyan Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney: @JohnDelaney
Note that some of the sitting members of Congress also have official Twitter handles, but they cannot use those for electioneering and they tend to be rather dry constituent-aimed material, so you can skip them tonight.
Who will be at the first Democratic debate?
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker speaks during the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame Celebration, Sunday, June 9, 2019, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall—AP
The Wednesday debate will feature Warren, O’Rourke, Booker, Klobuchar, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.
I know who some of those people are, but who are the rest?
Washington Governor Jay Inslee wrote President Barack Obama on Tuesday to ask for more federal assistance for his disaster struck state.
JASON REDMOND – Reuters
If you’re watching a Democratic debate, you probably know who Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker are. You may have heard of Klobuchar, a moderate Minnesotan who’s biggest campaign moment came when she launched it during heavy snow without flinching. (Many interpreted this as a rebuttal to Trump, who once canceled an event honoring Americans killed in World War I due to rain.)
What about the others? Here’s a quick guide:
Inslee: The climate change guy. A former member of Congress, he ran for governor of Washington state, where he tried to push through a carbon tax (failed twice) before successfully passing legislation to dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the state’s electric grid. He launched his campaign around the single issue of fighting climate change, but lately he’s been having second thoughts about that strategy.
Castro: The former rising star. Like O’Rourke and Booker, Castro was once tagged as an up-and-comer, and went from mayor of San Antonio, Texas, to HUD Secretary under Obama. Like Warren, he’s run a policy-heavy campaign, with a particularly detailed immigration plan, but unlike her it hasn’t gained him much traction. Fun fact: He has a twin brother in Congress.
Gabbard: The wild card. In 2016, Gabbard endorsed Bernie Sanders, and she supports legalization of marijuana and universal health care. She’s better known for her non-interventionist approach to foreign policy, which led her to oppose the removal of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. In fact, she’s been criticized for meeting with Assad in 2017.
De Blasio: The New York mayor. De Blasio is not the first mayor of New York City to think about running for president. His immediate predecessors, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, also had aspirations. But his candidacy may best be summed up by a New York magazine story headlined “I Tried to Find a New Yorker Who Wants de Blasio to Be President. It Wasn’t Easy.”
Ryan: The blue collar guy. Ryan’s campaign is centered around the fact that Trump won disaffected blue-collar workers in places like his Ohio Congressional district. “Flyover states are my states,” he said at his campaign kickoff. He unsuccessfully ran against Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House in 2016, and he’s really into mindfulness and meditation.
Delaney: The Iowa guy. Delaney lives in Maryland. He represented it for six years in Congress. But he’s been camped out in Iowa so long that he could probably claim residency if he wanted. (OK, not really.) Since announcing super early — July of 2017! — he’s been hitting up state fairs and town halls around the Hawkeye State with the hopes of pulling off a surprise win.
OK, who won’t be at the first Democratic debate?
Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel in 2008.
Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
The historically large field has been split up across Wednesday and Thursday. Each night will feature two randomly-selected slates of ten candidates.
On the second night, Biden will take the stage alongside Sanders; California Sen. Kamala Harris; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; entrepreneur Andrew Yang and self-help author Marianne Williamson.
Four other candidates — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton; Miramar, Fla., Mayor Wayne Messam; and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel — failed to meet minimum criteria and won’t be appearing on either stage.
That’s a blow for Gravel, in particular, as the rationale for his campaign — run mostly on Twitter by two teens — was mostly to get on the stage to force the debate to cover his more out-of-the-box policy ideas.
Bullock, who has already qualified for the second Democratic debates, will hold televised town halls in Iowa and New Hampshire on both nights.
Trump has considered responding to the debates in real time on Twitter. Asked during a live phone interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity whether he would be live-tweeting, Trump replied, “I wasn’t thinking about it, but maybe I will now.”
Why are they holding the debates this way?
In this April 14, 2016 file photo, former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaks as Hillary Clinton listens during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York.
Seth Wenig—AP
The format was designed to avoid the biggest problems of the 2016 debates: an overly large Republican field that led to a little-watched “kids table” debate with the lower-polling candidates and accusations of favoritism in the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders debates.
Instead, the Democratic National Committee set a limit of 20 candidates and required them to either poll at 1% or more in three separate polls from a pre-approved list or raise money from at least 65,000 unique donors. The top tier, defined as those at 2% or more, were split among the two debates.
Once the lottery had been conducted and the two groups had been formed, NBC decided to put the lineup with Biden, the frontrunner, on the second night to “maximize viewership.”
Read More: A Quick Guide to the Big Ideas in the Democratic Primary
Who’s moderating the first Democratic primary debate?
Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” poses during the 2018 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day in Universal City, Calif. on May 2, 2018.
Chris Pizzello—Invision/AP
NBC chose five moderators for the debate: “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and “Noticias Telemundo” host José Diaz-Balart.
Read More: The Most Important Presidential Debates in American History, According to Historians
What will the debate stage look like?
Three hours before the 2020 race officially gets underway, ten brightly lit blue podiums are ready for the candidates, facing the concert hall at the Adrienne Arscht Center in downtown Miami. Warren will take center stage, flanked by Booker on the left and O’Rourke on the right. The press has started to congregate at the filing center, which is rather dramatically set on the stage and wings of the neighboring opera house. The media headquarters is already a bustle of live shots, cameras and campaign staffers speculating about the night with reporters. It is here where candidates will come after the debate to the so-called spin room. “It’s hard to see how any of these candidates can stand out. You have — what? — a minute? I don’t think this is going to help anyone. You can only screw this up,” a senior adviser to a campaign told TIME.
What will the candidates be asked at the debate?
Senator and presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar speaks during a town hall event in Rye, NH on March 23, 2019.
Boston Globe—Boston Globe via Getty Images
That’s up to the moderators and the Democratic Party. Democratic National Committee head Tom Perez told Vox that they are working with the networks to “ensure they’re focused on the issues.”
“We’re not going to be talking about hand size,” he said, alluding to one of the weirder moments in the 2016 Republican debates.
A recent Morning Consult poll showed that the top issues for Democratic voters are the economy, health care and senior issues. The same survey found that in light of a wave of new abortion laws in several states, women’s issues are rising as a priority for Democrats.
Medicare for All
Several candidates — Sanders, Warren, Harris, Booker, Gillibrand, Ryan, and Yang — have expressed support for Medicare for All. Others, including Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, O’Rourke, Castro and Swalwell told the New York Times that they supported a public option, which would allow people to choose a government-run insurance plan. This more incremental plan is sometimes referred to as “Medicare for America,” although Bennet and Klobuchar call it “Medicare X” in a bill they both support.
The Green New Deal
Six senators were co-sponsors on a proposal to fight climate change: Sanders, Warren, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar and Gillibrand. Castro, Yang, and Williamson have expressed support for the proposal.
But not all the 2020 candidates are on board. Inslee, who is making climate change the central issue of his campaign and has rolled out a comprehensive policy to address the issue, called the legislation “aspirational.” Hickenlooper wrote a Washington Post op-ed expressing his doubts about the Green New Deal. Delaney, who has a $4 trillion plan for the environment, tweeted that the bill “about as realistic as Trump saying that Mexico is going to pay for the wall.”
Student loan forgiveness and college debt
In April, Warren released a plan to forgive up to $50,000 in student loan debt for people earning less than $100,000 per year. Sanders, who won’t be on stage Wednesday, introduced a proposal Monday to forgive all existing student loan debt. Castro has also proposed relieving the burden of student loan payments for people who make less than 250% of the federal poverty line. Klobuchar has said she’s not sold on the idea.
Recent news
Although Biden won’t be on the first night’s stage, his refusal to apologize for his remarks about working with segregationist senators will likely be a topic of discussion. Booker, in particular, criticized the former vice president and called for an apology, but Biden responded: “Cory should apologize,” though the two appear to have patched things up since then.
The candidates will also likely be asked about recent issues in the news, including a bill to study whether African-Americans should be given reparations for the effects of slavery, Iran’s recent saber-rattling, poor conditions in migrant detention centers being run by the Trump Administration and an allegation by a New York advice columnist that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
Read More: Why 2020 Democrats Aren’t Highlighting the Rape Allegation Against Trump
How can I make sense of this huge field?
Among the crowded Democratic field are, clockwise from left, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.
Getty Images (3); Harris: USA Today Network/Sipa USA; Buttigieg: AP
This is a Democratic primary, so they all agree on some big-picture goals: more Americans should have access to health care, the country should do more to fight climate change, more should be done to address racial and economic inequality.
The differences are in how far they would go, which goals they would make a top priority and how they would get it done.
For example, Klobuchar supports letting Americans refinance student loans at lower rates, Warren would eliminate up to $50,000 of student loan debt for people earning less than $100,000 a year and Sanders would forgive all student loans, regardless of income.
On climate change, Inslee and O’Rourke have made it a top issue; Biden and Warren have put out comprehensive plans; while Buttigieg, Gillibrand and Harris have yet to release their plans. It’s still early in the process, but at this point that’s a sign of their priorities.
And on how they’d get it done, Warren, Inslee and Buttigieg have called for ending the filibuster and passing legislation by a simple majority, while Booker, Sanders, Harris and Gillibrand have questioned that approach. Candidates like Biden, Bennet, Bullock and Hickenlooper have talked about how they could work with Republicans.
There are also some differences within the Democratic field. Warren and Sanders have been more skeptical of trade deals than other Democrats, Sanders has defended democratic socialism while other candidates have avoided the term and the field is split over whether to beat Trump by reaching out to his erstwhile supporters or trying to excite the Democratic grassroots.
Read More: These Democrats Are Trying to Ensure the Term ‘Socialism’ Doesn’t Define Them in 2020
Which candidates are likely to clash onstage?
U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) debates U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at the KENS 5 studios on October 16, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. He took part in a solo CNN town hall on Thursday.
Pool—Getty Images
Warren vs. O’Rourke
Warren and O’Rourke are both high-profile candidates who stumbled. O’Rourke entered the 2020 campaign with national name recognition leftover from an unsuccessful race against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but has since fizzled in the polls. Warren’s campaign got off to a bad start when she was criticized for taking a DNA test in an attempt to prove Native American ancestry. She seems to have recovered in recent polls, vying with Sanders for second place in recent polls.
Read More: The Other Debate This Week: Progressives Deciding Between Warren and Sanders
O’Rourke vs. Inslee
The former congressman and the governor have both put out bold plans to fight climate change. Inslee, who recently signed landmark legislation in Washington state, is essentially running as a single-issue candidate, while O’Rourke attempted to reboot his campaign when he debuted a $5 trillion climate plan in late April.
Booker vs. Klobuchar
These two senators are known as pragmatic or bipartisan, but both have tried to avoid alienating primary voters from the Democratic base. Klobuchar, who once called the Green New Deal “aspirational,” declared on June 18 that she would “build on the framework” in her first 100 days as president. But for either to break out of the pack, they’ll need to do more to get attention.
Read More: Cory Booker’s Moment is Yet to Come
What will Donald Trump do during the debates?
In this file photo, the Twitter timeline of President Donald Trump is seen on June 29, 2017, in Bydgoszcz, Poland after the President insulted TV show host Mika Brzezinski on the platform, claiming he was bullied by Mrs. Brzezinski and her co-hosts on their show Morning Joe on MSNBC.
NurPhoto — Getty Images
Trump has said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll live tweet during the Democratic debates. (He’ll be on Air Force One flying to the G-20 summit in Japan during Wednesday night’s event.) But he’s been talking about some of the candidates ahead of their first appearances onstage, including to TIME. In an interview in the Oval Office with TIME on June 17, Trump said “Biden is not the same Biden.” He said, “Harris has not surged” and “Bernie is going in the wrong direction.” He acknowledged that Warren is “doing pretty well,” but continued calling her by his derisive nickname for her, “Pocahontas.” And he said, “I don’t believe Mayor Pete has a chance.” Whether or not the president weighs in on Twitter as the debates go on, he offered one overall prediction to TIME: “I would say that probably a progressive wins” the primary.
Read More: Transcript of Trump’s TIME Interview About 2020
When and where are the next debates?
The next debates — the second of twelve — will be broadcast on CNN from Detroit on July 30 and 31.
With Philip Elliott and Vera Bergengruen in Miami, Tessa Berenson and Will Kubzansky in Washington, and Kathy Dowd in New York.
Contact us at [email protected].